Brenda is a native North Dakotan and very pleased to be involved in the world of education through the NDSU Extension Service in Ramsey County. Her family and friends can make life interesting at times but there is always an opportunity for
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Brenda is a native North Dakotan and very pleased to be involved in the world of education through the NDSU Extension Service in Ramsey County. Her family and friends can make life interesting at times but there is always an opportunity for learning along the way.

April Fool’s Day
Happy April Fool’s Day! Facebook, Twitter and other social media are buzzing with funny stories and jokes on a day that for most is an opportunity for a break from the too-seriousness of life. Even that mighty search engine company, Google, got in the act and today announced that is launching a search service powered by smell – not. One of my favorite April Fool’s jokes is from Google also – a few years back they announced they were changing their name to Topeka and were releasing a service called Google Paper, which would automatically send you, printed copies of all your emails. A friend then asked – in all seriousness - who would be responsible for the cost of the extra paper!
In grade school, I remember a teacher telling us that starting immediately all our writing would need to done in red pen and while hers on our papers would be done in black. About half the class laughed while the other half had a “deer-in the-headlights” look as they contemplated how to suddenly acquire red pens. Even years later one classmate commented how he never really trusted that teacher again!
I remember my maternal Grandfather enjoying April Fool’s jokes which were usually associated with his lifetime occupation of farming. On April Fool’s day, new lambs could suddenly talk; the tractor had learned to drive itself so he could rest and the lights in the hayloft always turned themselves off and so was never forgotten. For his young granddaughters the stories were more fun than a trick and now are part of the memories of a very kind man.
But this year there is one April Fool’s trick I could live without. It is now more than a week since Spring arrived on the calendar and yet today on April Fool’s Day, the small space heater in my office kicked in. I do not like Winter’s continued presence or its version of an April Fool’s joke.